SVVSD's Haddad supports school-funding overhaul

Proposal would require as-yet-unspecified tax increase

DENVER -- St. Vrain Valley School District superintendent Don Haddad testified Tuesday before the state Legislature in favor of changing how Colorado funds public schools.

Senate Bill 213, which requires voters to approve tax increases of up to $1 billion, seeks to undo a complicated funding scheme that has left the state shouldering an increasing share of public education.

"What should the school-financing formula look like for the next 20 years?" asked Sen. Mike Johnston, D-Denver. "We'll build an act that we think represents the best chance for all Colorado kids to be successful."

Haddad said Tuesday evening that he supports the bill because Colorado's public schools are severely underfunded.

St. Vrain Valley Superintendent Don Haddad

For 2012-13, St. Vrain received $6,332 per pupil, down from a peak of $6,945 in 2009-10. Because of lower state funding, the school district reduced staffing levels at all schools in 2011-12 and 2012-13, until voters approved a mill levy override in November.

If the state had followed Amendment 23 since 2010 as it did previously, St. Vrain would receive an additional $32.5 million this year, district officials said last fall.

The proposal would not restore that loss, however.

"It's not anywhere near what we've lost in education funding in the past several years, but it's a step in the right direction," Haddad said.

Until the bill is approved, St. Vrain officials won't know exactly how it will affect the district.

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"What we do know for sure is that it will be considerably more than what we currently are getting," Haddad said. "Every district, regardless of who you are, will see an increase (in funding)."

Lawmakers have long agreed that Colorado's school-funding process needs an update. But the proposal hinges on voter approval of a tax increase, the details of which haven't been released.

Much of the bill sets up incentives to local governments to seek tax hikes to fund schools, taking some load off the state. The overhaul also sets up full-day kindergarten across the state and an updated funding scheme to help students learning English.

Republicans on the Senate Education Committee asked whether Colorado's school funding scheme could be updated without higher taxes. School officials at the hearing said they wanted to know more about how the plan would work.

Johnston has predicted an income-tax increase will be petitioned onto ballots by a private educational advocacy group.

"There are a number of outside groups who have been working on the idea of a ballot initiative for a year or more," Johnston said.

He didn't elaborate on specifics, but Johnston added, "The voters will have the decision about whether they want to fund that formula."

A proposal two years ago to raise taxes for schools from another sponsor of the school-finance bill -- Boulder Democratic Sen. Rollie Heath -- failed badly.

Even if approved, the funding overhaul wouldn't go into effect until 2015-16, Haddad said.

The Senate Education Committee planned to vote today on the school finance overhaul.

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